This story is rated M for possible strong but non-explicit adult themes.))
Birthday Suit
A World of Warcraft fanfic
By Heidi Cautrell
Part One.
"You got Gelles a WHAT for her birthday?" Lanfith Stark's mouth fell open, her copper colored eyes almost as round as saucers.
"A stripper," said Xyra Lunastar, a huge grin on her dark purple lips. She shrugged, her black leathers creaking with the simple, yet graceful movement. A mug of ale was picked up by her nimble fingers from the table in front of her. She took a deep pull from the frothy liquid, her long ears twitching with pleasure as she drank.
"But- But- ... She's a paladin!" exclaimed Lanfith, flinging out an arm as if that might help explain why it was inappropriate to give a paladin a stripper on their birthday.
Xyra arched an eyebrow, amusement sparkling in her silver eyes as she set down her mug. She swallowed, then said, "Lan, you sound more like a paladin than a warlock at this moment. Come on," cajoled the night elf rogue, "you know it'll be great. Gelles'll turn fifty shades of red, sputter like a school girl and then become logical as hell and probably explain the mechanics of sex."
The young human stared at her Kaldorei friend for a moment. As she did, her look of outraged slowly shifted into one of amusement. Xyra's grin widened as she watched the transformation. Then the pair were howling with laughter, pounding the table with their fists and generally making a disturbance at the Blue Recluse. At ten o'clock in the morning, that wasn't all that unheard of, but it still turned heads.
As the two friends slowly wound down from their amusement, they heard a calm voice say, "Now just what is so amusing?" Gelles had returned from her errand, whatever that might have been, a little too soon. Or perhaps it was just in time.
Lanfith jerked upright in her chair, spilling her wine with her sudden movement. She would have shoved back her chair to avoid the wine from splashing onto the lap of her green robe, but being all of five feet tall and weighing around ninety pounds meant that she had very little in the way of upper body strength and the large chairs in the tavern almost out weighed her. Thus her favorite dress was now purplish brown in a very embarrassing spot.
Muttering a few words in demonic that were probably along the lines of "fooey" and "darn it", though they sounded much worse because of the chosen language, Lanfith slid out of the chair, gave Xyra and Gelles a sheepish smile, dropped silver on the table, and hurried out of the tavern.
Xyra grinned at the barmaid who came over with a sigh to wipe up the spilled wine. "Ale for my friend here, Miss." The rogue winked as she tossed a gold coin at the woman. She caught it deftly, gave Xyra a smirk, then headed back to the bar. A glance up at Gelles showed Xyra her friend was still waiting for an answer to her earlier question.
Kicking out an empty chair, Xyra nodded, "Take a load off, woman. Have a drink with me and relax. Lan had some things to fel-fry anyway, I'm sure."
Gelles eyed the boot print on the offered chair, then shrugged and sat. When the barmaid placed a mug in front of her, she nodded her thanks. Lifting the drink, she took a small sip, then eyed Xyra again. "Well?"
Grinning over her mug, Xyra shrugged, "We were just talking about something that happened when we were stationed at the Gulch." It wasn't a total lie, they'd had been discussing the Gulch, just not at that particular moment.
"I see," said Gelles. She regarded Xyra a moment, then took another, much larger, drink from her mug.
The sound of leather creaking drew Gelles' brown gaze to her best friend. Xyra was watching her with somber silver eyes for a moment. "You seriously don't know what day your birthday is, do you?"
A head shake was her response. "I seriously do not know when it is."
Leaning back into her chair, Xyra pursed her lips for a moment, then nodded. "Okay then."
Gelles arched an eyebrow. "What are you up to?"
A look of wounded surprise was Xyra's response. "Gelles, what makes you think I'm always up to something?"
"Because you always are?" said Gelles drolly.
Xyra smirked slightly, "Not all the time."
"Most of the time." Gelles nodded firmly then took another drink.
Rolling her eyes, the rogue drained her mug, then shoved back her chair. "Whatever you say, Gell. I gotta run. I'll catch ya later." She tossed gold onto the table, shot Gelles a wink and sauntered out of the tavern.
To no one in particular, Gelles said, "We're going to end up in jail again, I just know it." Then she took a drink of her ale as she lifted her hand to signal her need for a refill. She might as well be drunk if she was going to jail.